Fighting Like the Biblical Heroes

From chapter 6 (“The Coming Battle”) of Shawn Bolz’s new book, Encounter

Satan and his demons still have much they want to win at. Remember that T-shirt that some bikers and heavy metal wannabees wear: Better to be a leader in Hell than a servant in heaven! That is the downfall of what those bound for hell looks like. A misunderstanding of real power that comes from love first not authority, might, and power.

This is true in their book: they gave up their service with a goal, to create a power structure that would satisfy their demonic urges. So many Christians are in denial about spiritual warfare, or they do not feel like they have any responsibility in this arena, but it is very real, and we are only going to see it increase as we get closer to the return of Jesus.

The enemy is not just trying to just knock out churches, his ultimate goals is to possess through humanity the keys that Jesus took and is freely giving us. Keys to banking, the environment, government, entertainment, education, justice, and ministry.

Think about the Book of Revelation, John saw the antichrist spirit over the financial world markets, and he saw the antichrist oppressing through a unified world. Without going into the details of what all of that can mean, we can see that the enemy is fighting a battle that he has arrogance in his ability to tempt and destroy humanity.

We know that the light of God has been steadily increasing, and we know that His government is only developing further and will do so until He returns. We have extreme hope because of what is happening in the world around us if we open our eyes to see that government being established and growing.

Back in my heavenly encounter the angel who was with me began to describe three types of warfare would be coming to those who are called being appointed of God for His favor, assignments, and connection.

Joseph

Joseph’s attack is one of the most ruthless because it comes from people you know, who should be on your team, who should have your back, who should be working with you not against you.

When Joseph had his dream, his brothers were confused, jealous, and threatened because they didn’t see themselves as great leaders, appointed by God, favored for social influence and societal rulership and they definitely didn’t want to be ruled over by their brother. They were looking for God to lead them but just in a survival mode until he returned. They didn’t understand current connection to God’s eternal plan and that God cared about the coming famine, Israel’s future, and even other people groups like the Egyptians.

The brothers were consumed by mediocrity and normalcy that God never intended them to have and instead of seeing Joseph as an asset to them, they were threatened by the favor he seemed to have not only with his father but just in life.

Part of the attack that has come against modern “Josephs” is that so much of what they perceive as reality over their calling and influence is a threat to what we think works best and even breaks Christian norms, and therefore they are often looked at as progressives even if they have conservative moral theology. Their greater ideas of how God can manifest his kingdom seem extreme.

One theme that many are believing for is that God is going to change the face of Christianity in one generation. We see the greatest display of that through Martin Luther and the great Protestant Reformation. There is another reformation coming and there are people being commissioned by God who will be more disruptive to the religious mountain than Uber was to the transportation unions across the globe.

Because these reformers, these Josephs, have building gifts and strategic entrepreneurial minds that are sometimes a threat to those around them who don’t think great change is necessary.

The power of the anointing on Joseph was not his favor, his influence, his dream interpretation gift. It was that he stood as a representative between heaven and earth and had a connection to the God of Heaven who had intentions, dreams, and passions for the humanity Joseph lived around. The fact that Joseph could be betrayed multiple times, imprisoned with the worst people, and still believe that the two men who were wanting a dream interpreted might have had a revelation from God was astounding. Most Christians today would have given up on and judged those prisoners as unworthy, especially if they were in survival mode in their own dream life.

But Joseph saw that holiness of the nature of God was at work on everyone in the situation not just on the Israelites and that God had a plan even for a pagan nation that held the world’s wealth.

Esther

The attack against Esther was just like the same spirit that tried to attack Elijah later through the possessed woman, Jezebel. This spirit or the spiritual dynamics that this oppression brings, is one of the primary weapons against the people God is appointing in this generation.

We often see the spirit that so demonized Jezebel as a female who wanted to smite anyone who opposed her agenda. She represents lust, seduction, and false power to most contemporary interpretations of Christianity.

There are groups that God is anointing in industries, in science, education, politics, entertainment, and the enemy wants to destroy whole organizations. The battle here is to take out what God is anointing before it can come into its full promise. The battle is also usually very public with lots of false allegations, where the enemy takes pieces of truth and tries to legalize them against you.

The victory: Our victory comes when we stand in right identity and take our rightful place even though we will face the threat of the enemy possibly for long seasons of time.

Daniel

The attack against Daniel was one of spiritual manipulation. Daniel was given the spiritual seat of power in all of Babylon. His position or title literally meant chief of all spiritual studies and practice. Sometimes referred to as the chief astrologer in those days. He had studied these religions but not practiced any. When the attack came against him in its various forms it was from people who wanted to use spiritual information and positional authority against him.

Spiritual manipulation is a tactic that happens when someone wants their will accomplished and uses spiritual pressure, the power of their position, spiritual words to make others do what they want them to do. This is extremely sophisticated as it grows and is often one of the main attacks against people who God wants to bring His significance through because it is so demoralizing and causes such pressure, threat and anxiety.

Daniel stood his ground when spiritually manipulated and given an ultimatum. The only way to overcome spiritual manipulation is to not conflict avoid but to stand up for yourself and power through patiently. Meaning if you stick to your principles, you may look like you are losing ground, authority, relationship, but God will reward you and work this for your benefit. Those who fight a battle when they are being manipulated by trying to fight for their reputation will often lose more of it than if they just put-up boundaries and wait it out.

HEAVEN WILL FIGHT FOR YOU, FAR GREATER THAN YOU CAN FIGHT FOR YOURSELF.

For more information on Encounter, visit CharismaHouse.com. {eoa}